DAMASCUS, SYRIA – After being banned by the Kurds in 2015, the White Helmets – the controversial “humanitarian” group that exclusively accompanies particular Western and Turkish-backed terrorist groups – have announced their return to the city of Afrin. The move follows the city’s takeover by the Turkish military and Turkish-backed rebels linked to terrorist groups, such as the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
AFRIN, SYRIA (Analysis) — In less than two months since Erdoğan’s Operation Olive Branch kicked off, the Kurdish “Rojava Project,” which aims for a unified Kurdish-controlled area in northeast Syria, has been delivered a strong blow. Kurdish militias have shown their inability to unite in the face of Turkish aggression.
DAMASCUS, SYRIA (Analysis) — The war in Syria has been relatively absent from media coverage in recent weeks following the declared victory of Syrian, Russian and Iranian militaries in their battle against the U.S.- backed rebels and terror groups, including ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Turkish operations against Kurds that had previously struck a de facto truce with Damascus may be asked to change tack and take up a decidedly anti-Damascus stance in exchange for a reprieve from the current onslaught. Just as Washington gifted Anakara with a pretext to further invade Syrian territory, Anakara will have gifted Washington with Kurds more motivated to serve US interests in Syria rather than their own.
US foreign policy in the Middle East is not merely adrift, it is in a state of severe crisis. Even as Turkish tanks and warplanes continue to pound US allies in northwestern Syria (The Kurds), powerbrokers in the White House and the Pentagon are unable to settle on a way forward.
Two days after we reported that Turkey valiantly demanded that US forces vacate military bases in the Syrian district of Manbij, when Turkey’s foreign minister Melet Cavusoglu also said that Ankara is calling upon the US to cease any and all support to Syrian Kurdish forces and militias, not surprisingly the US refused, and on Monday a top American general said that US troops will not pull out from the northern Syrian city of Manbij, rebuffing Ankara demands to w
https://southfront.org/syrian-war-report-january-29-2018-turkish-forces… The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA) used their advantage over Kurdish YPG/YPJ forces in the area of Afrin and captured Bursaya Mount, Qastal
(GPA) — After over a week of cross-border shelling by Turkish artillery and then a flurry of airstrikes that allegedly took out 153 Kurdish targets, Turkey has finally begun sending ground troops across the Syrian border into Afrin. Afrin is currently under the control of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group primarily led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Turkish troops began crossing the border near Afrin on Sunday as a part of a campaign deemed “Operation Olive Branch.”
After over a week of cross-border shelling by Turkish artillery and then a flurry of airstrikes that allegedly took out 153 Kurdish targets, Turkey has finally begun sending ground troops across the Syrian border into Afrin. Afrin is currently under the control of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group primarily led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
